Chapter 247 - By Overwhelming

The more Encrid learned, understood, and delved into Will, the more fascinating and enjoyable it became. With a sword, he had to swing a hundred times before he felt any satisfaction. With Will, a single touch brought a perceptible change. It was different from swordsmanship. 'I could piss myself.'

Outwardly calm, he was enjoying himself more than ever. It was driving him mad. He wasn't merely happy enough to die; he actually begrudged the time he spent sleeping. Even in his sleep, he studied and immersed himself in it. For a man who had enjoyed even the arduous path of swordsmanship and physical training, training his Will was nothing short of bliss. What if the rapier swordsman unleashed his intimidation again now? What if he saw Encrid as he was now? He would be just as surprised as before. No, more surprised—beyond that, he would be horrified. After all, it was generally accepted that even after grasping a fragment of Will, making it a familiar part of oneself took years. The desire for accomplishment lashed Encrid onward. No, it gently pushed at his back, embracing him and offering warm words. Having learned and practiced so much, naturally he wanted to test it. Above all, he was curious. 'How far will it work?'

How much could his refusal withstand? He had heard that monsters from the Demonic Realm occasionally produced general-class leaders whose killing intent could bind human bodies. One such opponent stood before him. 'Am I lucky?'

Had the goddess really left his cheek smeared with her spit? Surely a mere peck on the cheek couldn't explain this. "Kreeee!"

The killing intent touched him, and he refused it. There was not the slightest difficulty. Encrid drew his sword.

SHING. The centaur leader approached to within ten paces. Monsters that appeared to be its subordinates swept past on either side. Encrid ignored them. One swung a wooden club at his head. He bent halfway at the waist to dodge, then straightened in an utterly natural motion. It was as though they had agreed on the movements beforehand. The club passed overhead.

WHOOSH!

The force of its passage flattened his hair, and wind brushed his cheek. Ragna had disappeared from sight. This much killing intent wouldn't freeze him and leave him helpless, either. He would be fighting somewhere on his own. Encrid kept his eyes on the monsters' leader before him. "What? Surprised?"

Encrid was enjoying himself enough to ask gently. His refusal was successfully repelling his opponent's killing intent. No, it was doing so without the slightest difficulty. Elation filled him at the knowledge that he was walking steadily in the right direction. Monster though it was, the centaur leader possessed intelligence, and it faltered. What was this human? Weren't humans merely food? How was it withstanding the killing intent? It had been driven from the Demonic Realm all the way here. It had been a long journey. Everything it had encountered since arriving had failed to endure its presence. Vivid blue eyes stared straight at the monster.

"Let's get you to heaven."

Thinking of Audin as he spoke, Encrid swung his sword. He stepped forward with his left foot and shifted his center of gravity. His forearm muscles bulged for an instant. The movement began at his ankle, pivoting through his waist as the sword fell. From high to low: a downward cut of the Heavy Sword Technique. Like Rem's weapon, his sword became a streak of light as it struck. "Kree!"

The leader thrust its glaive out reflexively. Its reaction was excellent, too. It flinched, then immediately extended its weapon. The glaive intercepted the sword's path.

BOOM!

The meeting of metal sounded like a fire spell exploding. As though lightning had struck. That single exchange told Encrid that killing intent wasn't all the leader possessed.

'Strength.'

Superhuman strength. He channeled the impact through his knees and took a step back. Meanwhile, the deflected glaive shot straight toward the sky. Encrid's senses spread their wings. Drawing on countless experiences, he predicted his opponent's actions. His heightened senses glimpsed the future. The glaive curved down at a slant, a blow that left nowhere to dodge. He had to block. It was remarkably clever for a monster. The glaive's trajectory forced its opponent's hand. It resembled the Righteous Sword Technique. Encrid raised his sword, concentrating at the same instant. He loosened his wrist just enough and, at the moment of impact, let the blow slide away with a wavering motion. The Flowing Sword Technique.

CLANG! RINGGG!

The glaive slid along his blade and away. In that opening, he stepped forward. His right-hand sword had gone to defense, but his left hand was still free. It threw the guard sword he had drawn before anyone noticed. The Throwing blade technique. He twisted his waist while deflecting the glaive with the Flowing Sword Technique, carrying that force directly into his left arm. Then, pivoting at the elbow, he snapped the broad-bladed dagger from his hand.

WHIZZ! THUNK!

The thick blade buried itself in the leader's side, leaving only the hilt visible. He had even used the Heart of the Superhuman for the throw. It was a wonder the blade hadn't passed clean through. That spoke to how tough his enemy's body was. "Kreeee!"

Apparently furious, the creature's presence grew fiercer. Its killing intent thickened once more.

'Die. Die. You are my food.'

He almost thought he heard those words. Encrid didn't bother speaking. Something rose like heat from his lower belly. That heat shook off whatever his opponent was emitting. It was refusal. "Hup!"

Drawing a breath, he stepped again, straightened his knee, and swung his sword with his elbow extended, pivoting at the waist. A horizontal cut.

WHOOSH!

Instead of blocking, the creature backed away. Just as intended. Encrid advanced as though dancing. His sword moved with each light push of his feet against the earth. Stabbing, cutting, cleaving. Whether the creature dodged or blocked, he kept his blade moving. He wheeled it overhead and brought it down, pulled back the descending blade and thrust, feigned withdrawing the thrust before slashing left, then swept it around in another broad swing.

CLANG! THUNK! RIP! CLANG!

Some strikes were blocked. Others landed. The glaive's movements were thoroughly restricted. The Righteous Sword Technique from Nameless, the demon sword without a name, pressed the opponent without pause. A monster was still a monster; it wouldn't even realize it was walking into a trap. The leader couldn't properly use its strength. Muscular power came from movement. Before it could bring that power to bear, the sword restricted and blocked its motions. The centaur leader, a mass of solid muscle several times larger than a human, retreated in a manner that belied its bulk. With each backward step, defeat loomed closer. Encrid overwhelmed it. "Kree! Kreee!"

The leader poured out killing intent in what seemed a desperate struggle. Encrid ignored it effortlessly. Refusal rose of its own accord and repelled it. When he first handled Will, it had felt like a newly grown tail. Now it was more familiar than his own body. He also felt as though he possessed a deep, sturdy well. A well that never ran dry, however much he drew from it. With the power supporting his refusal springing from that well, this was no trouble at all. He drove his enemy back with cuts, thrusts, blows, pulls, and slashes until his sword finally bit deep into its right foreleg. The blade split the muscle of the horse's leg. It sank roughly half a finger joint deep, severed muscle and nerves, and came free.

SPLURT.

Black blood spouted from the cut. Perhaps he had struck a blood vessel; blood gushed out in pulses. Monsters had terrifying regenerative abilities. A colony leader in particular might well be a troll's cousin in that regard.

'Finish it now.'

Encrid saw the end, and the leader grew frightened. It had led hordes of monsters with its unique ability, but the moment it met a stronger predator, it remembered why it had been driven all the way here. Back then, too, a certain human had been responsible. "Kreeeee!"

The leader signaled and turned away. Despite its wounded foreleg, it struck the ground rapidly with both front hooves and pivoted on its hind legs. An astonishing athletic feat. Of course, Encrid had no intention of merely watching. Just as he moved to cut it down, something interfered.

SCREEEE! Two harpies swooped in, thrusting their talons at him. If those caught him, they would surely shred his gambeson and leather alike. Had this come out of nowhere? No. Even while concentrating on his enemy, he kept his senses open. The surprise attack didn't rattle him. Instead, he slashed diagonally from above his left side down to his lower belly, then brought his sword up along the opposite diagonal.

SHICK! CRUNCH! THUD! THUD!

Two sword strikes turned two harpies into four. Into chunks of meat sprawled on the ground. By the time he had chopped apart the winged monsters and pushed through, the leader was already running.

'Letting it escape could be trouble.'

It would be. The horde it had gathered here was proof enough. What would they do if it created another mass of horse demonic beasts and entrenched itself in that forest? Worse, a colony leader was very likely to develop its abilities further with time. Encrid kicked off the ground. He recalled the first squire he had seen on the battlefield. That impossible charge remained vivid in his mind.

'Like that squire did?'

Could he do it? Put the Will of refusal into his legs, too? Naturally, it wasn't easy. Once learned, refusal had been so easy and enjoyable to use, but learning something new remained difficult. So very difficult. There was no way to force something that wouldn't work. Recalling the squire racing across the battlefield against Aspen, Encrid unleashed the Heart of the Superhuman. Explosive strength filled his thighs. He let the force of his kick against the earth carry his body.

BOOM!

His foot struck the ground with a roar as loud as a battering ram hitting a castle gate. KREE!

One of the subordinate monsters intercepted him, swinging a club. Encrid slashed as he ran.

SHIIICK!

The approaching centaur was cut across the neck. He had ducked under the club and swung through the opening. Once, he could never even have attempted such a sequence of movements. His body shot forward in a single straight line, following the fleeing centaur's path. And there were people watching.

* * *

Most of the soldiers had frozen under the killing intent, and for a moment it seemed they were fucked all over again.

"Be cut."

Someone muttered those words and slashed at empty air. Ragna. He immediately moved among the frozen men. The charging centaurs couldn't withstand even two blows from his sword. Sometimes he knocked a club aside and split the skull behind it. Sometimes he cleaved a charging horse's torso vertically. He made it all look simple, straightforward, and easy. It didn't even feel dynamic. It was like cutting dry hay with a sharp sickle. In other words, his swordwork looked like manual labor, a standardized task. 'What the hell is that?'

They had every reason to be astonished. But Encrid astonished them even more.

'How are you moving?'

The killing intent had briefly blackened Torres's vision, but soon he could see clearly again. He watched Encrid fighting before him. 'Why is he so good?'

No, he had always been good. But even without the eye to gauge skill at a glance, even without eyes that could read talent, wasn't this far too different? Encrid was even brushing aside the leader's killing intent as he swung. He cut, thrust, and showered it with blows. He simply overwhelmed it. 'Wow.'

The killing intent's grip on his body soon loosened. Even so, Torres didn't move. Ragna was slicing and cutting down the charging monsters one by one. Jaxon had appeared at some point and was hunting them down, too. Then the leader fled, and Encrid gave chase. "Hey! If you go in there—"

Torres broke off. He thought pursuing it all the way inside would be a bad move. Even so, he thought they had to pursue. Letting it escape would only cause more trouble.

"Rem! Your Captain's heading into the forest!"

Torres chose the next-best option. "For fuck's sake!"

Rem answered. It didn't seem directed at Torres, but his actions were just what Torres had intended. Rem swept his axes to either side and butchered five or six human-faced hounds in an instant. The axes became streaks of light racing among the monsters. Then he dashed forward. He swept through their midst as though it were his own front yard. In his wake lay only the corpses of monsters and demonic beasts. "If you can move again, fight for yourselves."

Ragna murmured those words and moved as well. His sword whirled, cutting and cutting through everything in his way. The work done, he followed Encrid toward the forest. The two hulking figures who had cleaved through the demonic beasts to the side also began to run. "Let's go!"

Audin the religious nut spoke as he smashed a Ghoul's skull with his fist. Before anyone knew it, the battlefield had become a melee overwhelmingly in the humans' favor. The monsters and demonic beasts were too busy getting beaten to do anything else. 'Fucking hell.'

Torres could only stand there in amazement. A Ghoul's eyeball rolled to his feet. He stamped on it. With a crunch, the eyeball burst and flattened against the ground. The battle was still underway. There was no time to admire the spectacle.

"Kill them all!"

Torres shouted with the eyeball beneath his foot. It was time to kill the remaining monsters and demonic beasts.

* * *

Wasn't it a little too fast? Encrid ran with all his might, but chasing a monster born to run was difficult. He could barely keep following it. The forest wasn't good terrain for running. That was the only reason he hadn't lost it. What if they reached flat, open ground? 'I think I'll lose it.'

A dispassionate assessment. What could he do? Try throwing a dagger? It was running with a cut foreleg and a sword embedded in its belly. A few knives decorating its back weren't likely to stop it. Rather than stop to try that, he thought he would be better off running even one step farther. Even knowing he would lose it, Encrid didn't give up. Quitting halfway because the outcome was obvious simply wasn't who he was.